


every breaking wave

by sunshyun



Series: still waters run deep [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Interrogation, M/M, Making Out, a bit of blood, now they don't even know what they are, past relationship, pirate lee donghyuck, royal guard mark lee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshyun/pseuds/sunshyun
Summary: so no, he’s not mark’s friend.certainly he’s not mark’s lover either. mark doubts that the right word for them exists, but he sometimes thinks that the closest one could be shipwreck. destroyed, sunk at sea, lost forever to the depths of the ocean. it kind of sums up where they stand right now.underwater.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: still waters run deep [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761490
Comments: 39
Kudos: 233





	every breaking wave

**Author's Note:**

> first of all, happy birthday [ml](https://twitter.com/marklystars), this one's for you. i love you, thank you for being part of all of my greatest memories of the past year.
> 
> thank you [vic](https://twitter.com/markvhyun) for putting up with me while i was writing this, i'll proudly say that there's a few words in this that are yours, not mine, and that only makes it more magical. thank you [lili](https://twitter.com/shiny_hoshi_) for helping me make sure that everything's ready, you're a blessing.
> 
> [title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYVEik7Lvc4)
> 
> hope yall enjoy it! (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

“he says he’s your friend, sir.”

mark’s reaction is immediate. 

it has to be. 

he looks up from the map he’s spent the last two hours studying, eyes a bit red and tired now wide open, a storm breaking through behind them.

it’s the word _friend_ what does it.

it crawls through mark’s skin, from his toes to his fingertips, leaving a trail of electricity.

at the other side of his desk, officer kim and officer nam are trying their best. the two guards are clearly nervous, their eyes wandering between each other and across mark’s office in an attempt to avoid direct eye contact with their captain. in any other circumstance mark would have laughed. he would have told them that this is exactly how he too was once, a young guard newly assigned to the capital to serve at the royal palace, all pure heart and naive ideals. in any other circumstance, he would’ve tried to gain their trust, to make them feel at ease, because that’s just how mark is, he can’t help but love it when people like him.

in any other circumstance, except for this one.

mark parts his lips to talk. his mouth feels dry, like he had just swallowed all the sand that lies at the bottom of the ocean. there’s a million questions sitting at the tip of his tongue but he knows that the two young boys in front of him can’t give him the answers that he very desperately needs -the answer he craves since that moonless night at the shore, years ago-, so he settles for the only one that matters right now.

“my friend?” he asks, just to be sure even though his heart is already beating like crazy, like it always does when he’s out in the sea and his eyes land upon unknown ships sailing across the horizon.

like a gut feeling, although when he stands behind the helm he always knows how to act, the right proceedings to follow, the limits, and now it's just the beating of his heart and one name ringing in his head over and over. 

the funny thing about it is that, if the person who claims to be mark's friend is the same boy that mark keeps yelling for in his dreams, _friend_ is the last word that he would use to describe him. maybe because with him there never were limits. sure, they were friends, at some point, growing up together in the same district between fishing boats and shared meals, but it was the warmth of bonfires at the beach and the almost optimistic sadness that comes with every love song written about those deep blue waters that had eventually blurred the line of friendship and turned them into something more. 

just for a little while.

“yes, sir. he says he will collaborate with the interrogation, but only if you’re the one asking the questions.”

so no, he’s not mark’s friend. 

certainly he’s not mark’s lover either. mark doubts that the right word for them exists, but he sometimes thinks that the closest one could be shipwreck. destroyed, sunk at sea, lost forever to the depths of the ocean. it kind of sums up where they stand right now. 

underwater.

mark gets up. it’s been at least two years, hasn’t it?

“did he say what his name was?”

✥

despite all the crimes that he’s committed, donghyuck doesn’t belong in a cold and dirty cell. that’s what first crosses mark’s mind when his eyes settle on the boy - _man_ , a voice tells him-, because not only does he carry himself with the confidence of someone who already knows that he’s going to get what he wants, he too is unbelievably beautiful, in a way that screams that he can also be dangerous if he isn’t free.

from his honey-like skin to his heart-shaped lips, donghyuck looks like the kind of treasure that people are always risking their lives for.

every time fate reunites them, mark braces himself for the blood, for the tears, for every battle that he knows he’ll lose, for every new memory of donghyuck’s hands on him, for the inevitable heartbreak, the endless yearning, for the sleepless nights ahead of him. this time, as the guards lock the door behind his back and he takes the seat opposite to donghyuck, mark braces himself for a battle.

he doesn’t get to attack first.

“you look the same,” donghyuck tells him when his eyes meet again with mark’s after they’ve wandered through his whole body. he didn’t try to hide it, and mark knows why -he has no reason to. 

since donghyuck first stole a piece of bread from his plate when they were kids, to the moment mark decided that his fate laid within the royal guard, they have never known to be anything but raw with one another. that day, he remembers, a glimpse of light went off behind donghyuck's eyes.

so mark lets his gaze wander too, doesn't try to hide it either. 

donghyuck doesn’t look at all like the same man that mark kissed for the last time two years ago, on a deserted beach at midnight under a moonless sky. now, donghyuck’s hair is somehow lighter, silvery -it had been jet black back then- and so much longer that it isn't hard for mark to imagine his own hands playing with it and running his fingers through it while donghyuck begs him to pull. his factions seem more accentuated, his face overall less round, and there’s a new, tiny scar decorating the outer corner of his left eyebrow.

donghyuck is also wearing silk, and golden jewelry that catches mark's attention, one of them being a ring with an oval stone in the middle, deep green and opaque, not quite as shiny as an emerald. jade, maybe.

mark prefers not to think about it.

"you look different,” is all he says. 

donghyuck smiles, as if mark had just said something funny.

“of course, i like to change. it keeps things interesting,” donghyuck almost purrs, tilting his head and moving back just a tiny bit so that his burgundy blouse falls even more open over the tanned skin of his chest. “do you like it?”

mark’s sure that any other man would’ve gone crazy at that gesture. donghyuck is perfectly aware of what he's doing, he knows that he's asking for that silk blouse to be torn apart, he's pleading for someone to put their hands on his body, to bend him over the table and fuck him. mark has to give it to him, it’s truly admirable, how easily and effortlessly donghyuck can look like a sin.

it's not that mark doesn't like it -he certainly does **.** it's that he remembers. he knows exactly where to touch, lick and bite to earn a sweet response from donghyuck. he remembers it all in cruel vividness, even more so now with donghyuck in front of him, and _maybe if_ , he thinks.

maybe if. 

but he's got a job to do.

“you were caught early this morning at the docks, trying to sail with two of the six dresses that were stolen from the royal tailor shop last week hidden between your cargo hold." mark doesn't miss the way donghyuck rolls his eyes as he repeats the same words that officer kim had told him on their way to the cells. "there are still four dresses missing, and i don’t need to tell you how much they’re worth. they weren't on your ship, so what did you do with them?"

“oh lee, come on. no small talk?” donghyuck fake whines.

mark pities whoever was in charge of the interrogation before him.

“what were you going to do with the dresses, donghyuck?”

“you are so boring now.” 

_why the royal navy?_ donghyuck had asked once, during simpler times, _i've heard it's boring. they tell you what to do, what to wear, how to act. where’s the fun in that?_ mark hadn’t answered. those days would greet him with the warmth of donghyuck's body wrapped around his own and would also end with heart-shaped lips looking for the pulse on his neck and promises made between sighs.

it feels like two lifetimes have happened since then.

“i see that you keep mistaking boring with responsible,” mark’s eyes connect with donghyuck’s again as he speaks, and he doesn’t backup when he sees the shadow of a challenge on the younger’s expression. ”you still haven’t grown up.”

donghyuck licks his lips. 

mark prepares himself for the blow.

“oh, i’ve been doing grown up things, do you want to know?”

“does it involve the stolen dresses?”

by the way donghyuck’s eyes get a shade darker mark realizes what’s coming.

“it doesn’t involve clothes at all.”

after so many years, it shouldn’t keep hurting like this.

what donghyuck is implying is far from being new information. nothing they can hold against each other. they’ve both been with other people, and they’re aware of it. it would have been foolish not to, considering that whenever they meet they don't know if it could be the last time they do it. what makes them different is that just thinking about someone else's lips and hands on donghyuck's body, about donghyuck moaning a name that's not his own, makes mark feel sick, whereas donghyuck can easily make a joke about it.

so it shouldn't hurt mark like this, but it does. it probably will until the end of his days, and mark only wishes his heart would settle, because up to this point he still can't decide if having donghyuck in front of him is a curse or a blessing.

his blood is close to boiling, but mark’s not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that, so he swallows all the madness.

“tell me the location of the dresses,” he demands.

donghyuck has the nerve to laugh.

“or what?” donghyuck fights back. 

that’s when mark remembers. this is a battle. 

which means both sides can attack.

there's no way for mark to know what donghyuck is doing at the capital after such a long time. there's no way for him to know if it was him who stole the dresses, what he did with the missing pieces, or what he was planning to do with the rest. mark doesn't even know who donghyuck works with -he can only have an idea from the jade ring.

he also fails to understand what donghyuck craves the money for, if it's just gold what he's after, or something more, less physical, more dangerous, the thrill.

the man in front of him can easily be an enigma but if there is one thing clear about him is that he wants mark. it’s simple. he asked for him. he told the previous officer that he would only speak to mark. he also knew, somehow, that his request could be answered, that mark was in the capital as well, on active duty, and not in the middle of the ocean, miles and miles away, where donghyuck couldn't reach him.

mark almost laughs when he realizes it. the only thing he knows about lee donghyuck now is that donghyuck wants him just as much as mark wants donghyuck. and he’s giving mark no other option but to use that against him.

“or we’re done here,” mark says, earnestly, his eyes not leaving donghyuck as he gets up and calls for the young guards. “nam, kim!”

“yes, captain?” comes the voice from behind the wooden door.

donghyuck’s façade breaks. it doesn't make a sound. it just leaves an old wound open. 

"no, no. wait." donghyuck's hands look for mark's over the table only to stop before he can touch them, like he has just remembered that they haven't touched each other in almost two years and the idea of feeling mark's skin against him terrifies him.

he looks up and their eyes meet, and for a moment mark sees it in donghyuck's gaze, the same look that he gave him when mark first told him about his plans to join the royal navy. that night, when the light of a full moon had found its way to their bed sheets, and also onto donghyuck's skin, kissing the same spots that mark had kissed earlier, he had looked at mark with fear and resentment in his eyes. donghyuck said he felt betrayed yet that night he had held mark even tighter.

for someone who's always pushing him away, sometimes donghyuck is pretty bad at letting mark go.

“stay, i'll talk," donghyuck pleads, and his hands twitch over the table. his eyes explore mark's face but mark knows that he's not really looking, donghyuck is thinking, arranging, crafting, and once his gaze is again steady mark knows that he's decided. “i’ll tell you everything.”

mark sits back. he hates that he can savour the moment.

“i’m listening.”

“i’ll tell you everything,” donghyuck repeats, trying hard so that his voice sounds milder, and it does. even his features get softer. but it won't be for long, no. just like with the sea mark has learned to read all the signs, and everything about donghyuck in this moment screams that this is just the calm before the storm. there is something twisted, halfway through sadness and delight, in the way he smiles and speaks again. 

“but only if you promise to kiss me before you go.”

mark's next breath gets caught in his throat.

“donghyuck–”

donghyuck doesn't look away.

“what? it’s not like you haven’t done it before. and it's been so long, mark...”

it's the first time since the beginning of the conversation that donghyuck calls him by his name, and of course he tries to use it as a weapon. mark's name coming out of donghyuck's mouth is nothing but a cruel bait, one donghyuck's sure that mark will bite into, because he's done it countless times before.

mark remembers the pain, vividly. it's exactly why he doesn't want to take it.

“stop.”

“why?” donghyuck insists. then, suddenly, he places one of his hands right before his mouth, like he's about to say something so outrageous that the words themselves need protection. “oh, don’t tell me. you met someone. is that it? who’s the lucky girl?” he has the nerve to ask, in a tone so playful that it's agonizing. no matter how much time has passed donghyuck always knows what buttons to push when it comes to mark. he’d known them since the very beginning, when they were just kids trying to survive.

“stop playing games for once, donghyuck. i didn’t- i’m not seeing anyone. you _know_ that." it comes out a bit desperate, but it's only fair. it's not like mark didn't try -being with somebody else, that is. he did, and for a little while he enjoyed the company of someone who cared deeply about him, someone he could trust, someone who'd never leave. in the end it was just about that person deserving a lover whose heart wasn't sunk in the ocean.

donghyuck's lips move but mark doesn't hear the words he's saying. he leans back in the chair and starts playing with one of his rings, the one with jade, and he doesn't look at mark when he speaks again.

“well then it should be easy. i talk, you kiss me. and we’re done,” donghyuck says, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

now that donghyuck isn't look at him, mark studies his face too. could it be, that for donghyuck it really is that simple? how unfair would that be? for mark, kissing donghyuck is like drowning, then being able to breathe for just a second, then drowning again. and the worst part is that he's addicted to the pain of the water filling his lungs, to donghyuck's pretty lips on him, warm and soft and always demanding. and exactly like with every other addiction, mark knew that he was going to kiss donghyuck since he first stepped into the cell. he just doesn't like that it's not going to be on his own terms.

it's always how donghyuck wants it, isn't it?

“why after? i can just leave once you’re done talking,” mark asks nevertheless.

“i know you’re a man of your word.” i know you want to kiss me, is what donghyuck doesn’t say. “well?”

mark would like to say that he debates over it, that he finds it somehow difficult, but it wouldn't be true. having donghyuck in front of him is hard, knowing this is all they've got is even harder, and watching the way his eyes delve into his own with a blast of challenge and something else, something old and naive that donghyuck wouldn't want him to see, may be the hardest thing of all. but this, donghyuck's proposal, the only thing hard about it would be saying no. 

and mark's not strong enough now to do that. he’ll definitely have to, someday.

“okay," he accepts. it feels liberating even though he knows he's playing with fire. "i promise."

donghyuck’s smile burns.

“renjun has the dresses,” donghyuck confesses, the name forcing mark to steal a quick glance at the jade ring again. he should have known that renjun is still involved in donghyuck’s life. “but he sailed last night, on a different ship, so right now he’s probably miles and miles away from here, on his way to moon bay.”

“why moon bay?”

“you know that’s where ten lives now, right?”

“of course it’s him,” mark says out loud without meaning to. he’s only met the guy once, but his reputation precedes him. how can a single man be connected with so many different people and cases? mark has no idea. depending on who you ask, ten could either be a pirate or a noblemen. some say he’s both. johnny would say it’s neither. but that’s a bit more complicated, —mark’s not going to get into that.

“yeah, who else?” donghyuck plays along.

“i’m assuming he’s planning on selling the dresses at the quarry market, correct?”

“and i get seventy percent of it.”

so it’s a matter of luck, to retrieve the stolen dresses. if renjun sailed last night as donghyuck said, he has a twelve-hour advantage to his quest. it takes five, maybe six days to get from hylia to moon bay. if the dresses are immediately put up to sale then someone with very bad luck would have to explain to the queen why they could only get two of her new dresses back.

mark sighs. the odds are not in their favour.

“okay. anything else to declare?” mark asks, which is just part of the usual procedure when he’s conducting an interrogation. people tend to believe that they’re entitled to some kind of reward only for being a decent person, and when it comes to pirates it usually means throwing a couple of names in the air, maybe giving information about the exact location of some trading spot. they think that if they do that, they might be released earlier, or maybe offered a deal. mark’s seen it happen countless times.

but donghyuck isn't any pirate. he doesn’t play by the rules, written or not, he never has, not even when he and mark still lived together.

so he answers “no,” and his smile becomes wider, because he knows that they’re done here, and what it means.

mark should leave. retrieving the queen's dresses is a matter of time, and right now he should be running through the headquarters in order to tell johnny to gather a tripulation and prepare a ship. he could be sailing and following renjun's trace in a couple of hours. he doesn't have to kiss donghyuck, not really. there's no one coercing him, no one pressuring him, and not even donghyuck could force him –he would never. there's only an empty promise and his own burning desire of putting his arms around donghyuck and kissing him just in the way he knows he likes it.

in the way he knows it wrecks him.

“we’re done." mark gets up and clears his throat. he tries not to sound too affected. "get comfortable here, you’ll stay in this cell until we get the dresses back.”

“aren’t you forgetting something?” donghyuck asks as he rises to his feet as well, but then he doesn’t move, nor does he make an attempt to go around the table. he’s only looking at mark, eyes open wide feigning some kind of innocence both of them know he doesn’t have. he tilts his head, playfully, in a way that says come and get me, i’m here, i’m yours if you want.

 _yours_ , but not really. donghyuck doesn’t belong to him, donghyuck belongs to the ocean. everything about him is fascinating yet dangerous, echoing a far off memory of mermaids in old songs and tales. mark’s heart feels like it’s about to explode when he takes the first step towards the other man, and he wonders, if perhaps this is what sailors go through seconds before they’re killed.

not wanting to start regretting his decisions mark closes the distance between them, secures one of his arms around donghyuck's waist and places his other hand on his cheek, cupping his face, like he's done hundreds of times. 

he _is_ a man of his word after all.

turns out, drowning can be as gentle as two pair of lips grazing. donghyuck's eyes fall closed and he sighs into the kiss, whole body melting against him. mark closes his eyes too, so there's only donghyuck's lips on his, donghyuck's arms on his shoulders and his hands on mark's neck, pulling him even closer, deepening the kiss. there are so many words unsaid between them that this is their only way left to communicate, without pretensions and white lies, the things he cannot say take form in the way mark coaxes donghyuck's lips with his tongue and they open for him like they've been waiting.

donghyuck pushes him slightly, doesn't stop kissing him, until mark's back hits the wall. there's a single moment when their eyes meet, full of memories and hunger, and then their lips are crashing again. mark feels donghyuck's body trapping him against the stones, his hands roaming over every part of mark's body. it's all gotten a bit rushed, kinda harsh, and when mark bites down on donghyuck's lower lip the younger lets out a sigh that sounds too much like a moan that dies in mark's mouth and then goes south, between his legs. 

it's only been a couple of minutes since they started when they part, lips red and swollen, donghyuck's cheeks and nose a bit rosy. mark tries to catch his breath and steady his heartbeat, even though it's not easy when donghyuck's hands keep straying from mark's hips and find themselves slowly wandering across mark's body. 

it's torture, and unfair, and simple and so, so complicated. mark knows this is going to cost him his own sanity for the next days, yet letting donghyuck go without kissing would surely make him lose his mind completely. he _needs_ to, like the tides need the moon and the sails need the wind.

“i’ve missed you,” donghyuck whispers in the lowest voice possible, not because he doesn't want to be heard but because he knows he lost the right to say it long ago. 

over his clothes, mark can feel the coldness of donghyuck's rings, and it weighs him down like an anchor. this is all they have –raw moments filled with words that are too dangerous to say out loud, so they have to be hushed, like the dirty little secrets they are. 

outside the cell, two people patiently await for their captain.

“i’ve missed you too," mark confesses, and it's by far the easiest thing he's said all day. "but sorry, i don't have the keys on me, donghyuck," he apologizes.

that last bit rolls out of his mouth like liquid fire, slow and leaving behind a trail of blisters and devastation, and mark would like to swallow it back the moment it's out. he would like to kiss donghyuck again and pretend he didn't notice that part of donghyuck's actions were fueled by his escape plans. he would like to kiss him again and feel if only for an instant that the last nine years haven't gone by, and mark's back is lying against the sand, chest filled with sunlight and legs sore as the sun sets and donghyuck kisses him for the first time, all soft, inexperienced touches and their whole lives ahead of them. 

but the words are out, devastation already seeping into the leaden walls of this small room, and nine years is a long time. 

when the only answer coming from the other boy is just a sad smile, mark knows for sure that the moment is over.

“it’s cute that you think i’m trying to get the keys,” donghyuck murmurs, and suddenly there's something sharp against mark's throat.

mark understands what it means before looking down.

what else could it be, if not the beginning of yet another heartbreak?

without moving his head mark can only appreciate the golden handle of the small blade, engraved with some feminine figure he doesn’t recognize, accompanied with a skull and a cross-bone, all covered in different jewels. it’s elegant, graceful, the perfect addition to donghyuck’s little act. although it does irk him a bit, mark doesn't resent the dagger but the way donghyuck’s clutching it as if it were something more than just a treasure.

"how did you manage to get that in?" mark finds himself wondering as he lets donghyuck manhandle him into a far more convincing position. surely, somebody should have searched donghyuck's body for any kind of weapons before throwing him in a tiny cell for an interrogation. 

donghyuck laughs before answering, catching mark by surprise.

“isn't it obvious?” he grabs mark’s jacket and pulls him off the wall, getting behind him so that his chest is pressed against mark's back, one of his arms secured around his body and the blade perfectly positioned over his adam’s apple. when he speaks again, he does it in a low tone, whispering against mark's right ear. “i do have an actual _friend_ in here, you know."

ah, of course. lee jeno. it looks like mark is going to have to make a visit to his old friend after this. that crescent moon eye smile is not as innocent as it might seem.

"ready?" donghyuck asks once they're both facing the entrance.

no. yes. maybe? the thing is, mark can and will humiliate himself for donghyuck, –he can already imagine what others will say. did you hear? captain mark lee was threatened by a pirate during an interrogation. did you hear? the pirate took him hostage, that's how he escaped. did you hear?– but saying goodbye to him is another whole thing entirely. mark doesn't think he could ever get ready to watch donghyuck leave even though that's all they've known for the past almost ten years.

what he can do, what he _did_ , is getting used to the pain.

"as ready i'll ever be," mark ends up saying, and the show begins.

mark hears himself giving the order to open the door, and that is pretty much easy. seeing confusion and panic washing over the faces of the two guards that are sometimes part of his crew, not so much, but mark expects them to proceed like they've been instructed to, and that's exactly what they do. soon, donghyuck has two muskets pointed at him. 

that might be why, when mark speaks again, asking the cadettes to lower their weapons, it sounds too much like him. the fear he feels when he thinks about donghyuck getting shot breaks through the layers of his voice and it might give the impression that their captain cares about what happens to this pirate. donghyuck pushes him slightly, and the blade of the dagger deepens its kiss on mark's skin, enough to draw blood.

it burns quite a bit.

"lower your weapons!" he repeats then, in a way that anyone could feel the anger that his command harbours. behind his back, donghyuck tenses. this time the two guards lower their weapons, and they don't hesitate to turn their backs on them when mark tells them to seek johnny for help. after a moment their footsteps can no longer be heard.

donghyuck takes the lead, forcing them both into the opposite direction, making it clear that he somehow knows the arrangement of the place. it’s left, right, left, then a staircase that guides them towards the east wing of the building, then right, and left again. but once they're out in the street they don't stop running, and before mark realizes donghyuck has grabbed him by the wrist and he's guiding him through the same streets that saw them wreak havoc when they were kids.

it's only when the view of the blue waves welcomes them that donghyuck stops running. just by looking at it mark feels a sharp pain flourishing on his chest. it's always the ocean, isn't it? and he's no match for the sea. donghyuck will always choose the ocean and mark will always be left with a heart broken in pieces scattered through the sand.

he's never going to win.

"mark," donghyuck calls him, they're both panting, trying to regain their breaths after the long run. donghyuck's eyes aren't on his face, but on his neck, and he looks horrified and concerned. "you're bleeding."

donghyuck’s voice brings him back to reality even if it's just a bit, but mark doesn't register what he’s saying. he can’t, not in this moment when reality is asphyxiating, when reality is a giant wave crashing down on him, pulling mark underwater, suffocating him. and donghyuck is the only air he needs, but donghyuck never stays, he’s always sailing free, leaving mark behind and wondering if he’s ever going to see him again.

“mark?”

here and now, it could be their last moment. if donghyuck or mark were to die tomorrow then this is it, just two boys that are not friends nor lovers, two boys that only share pain. on the verge of crying, mark thinks to himself: _is this really everything we've got?_

next thing he knows is that his hands are cupping the other's cheeks and that his lips are looking for a lifeline in donghyuck's mouth. there’s a gasp that dies on mark’s lips, and then donghyuck is kissing him back fervently. if mark is going to drown anyway he prefers it like this, with donghyuck’s hands on his hair, fingers pushing and pulling, with donghyuck’s body pressed against him, warmer than any bonfire, with donghyuck’s lips claiming his in a way that makes some part of mark believe that he might want to stay someday after all.

"i’m so sorry," mark manages to say between kisses. he notices then that they’d been moving towards a grove, and that at some point he’s shoved donghyuck against the trunk of a palm tree. the younger hasn’t complained yet, so mark goes in for another kiss. “i needed this.”

donghyuck welcomes him with parted lips.

"you're so unfair," he retorts, and he licks into mark’s mouth right before biting his lower lip. mark sinks his fingers in donghyuck’s hips, gaining a few breathy moans from him that threaten to end mark’s last grasp on his own sanity.

that might be why, when they part, nothing to mark feels real. he can hear the waves, in the distance, he can see the rise and fall of the tides. maybe he’s already drowned. the bottom of the ocean is brighter, and also warmer than he thought. donghyuck holds him closer, dearly, and his lips graze mark’s when he last speaks.

right when mark is about to collapse, donghyuck comes up with a challenge. 

"come find me," is all the boy says.

no, _wait_ , mark thinks, as he locks his eyes on donghyuck’s back, already on the run and heading towards the docks, _that’s not the right word_. donghyuck confessed inside the dirty little cell where he plans to be after all. it’s not a challenge. it’s way far more dangerous than that.

it’s a promise.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> so. second part, right?
> 
> thank you for reading it! yall can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/lovemenowmp3) or [cc](https://curiouscat.me/hyuckly) and i'll really appreciate it if you leave kudos and some comments! thank you again ~


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